ai4bharat/Pralekha huggingface dataset:
Ministry of Railways
ECoR OBSERVED GANDHI JAYANTI - SWACHHTA PAKHWADA ON A MASSIVE SCALE
The 154th Birth Anniversary of the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi is being organized all over the country. To mark this occasion, Principal Heads of the Departments, Senior Officials and Staff of East Coast Railway led by its Additional General Manager Shri Sharad Kumar Srivastava paid floral tributes on the photograph of Mahatma Gandhi at ECoR Headquarters at Rail Sadan, Chandrasekharpur, Bhubaneswar.
To mark this occasion, East Coast Railway has organized Swachhata Pakhwada from 16th September to 30th Sept'2023 with great enthusiasm and spontaneous participation by all Railwaymen in every field. Railway employees at all levels and departments participated and contributed towards the Swachhta Drives organized at Railway Stations, Trains, Coach Maintenance Depots, various Offices, Workplaces and Railway Colonies. Railwaymen in remote stations also took part very actively. Activities like Swachh Sambad, Swachh Station, Swachh Parisar, Swachh Aahar, Swachh Neer, Swachh Prasadhan, Swachh Railgadi etc. were taken up during this fortnight long cleanliness drive. Different competitions were also organized to mark this occasion.
On the Day of Gandhi Jayanti, Additional General Manager of East Coast Railway Shri Sharad Kumar Srivastava felicitated the participants for their outstanding works and achievements in various competitions. To mark the occasion, Prabhat Pheri was also organized where all Railway Officers, Employees, Bharat Scouts & Guides and School Children participated with various slogans to aware public and also participated in plantation drive. All Principal Heads of the Departments, Senior Officials along with Principal Chief Mechanical Engineer Shri Biswajit Moitra, Staff and Members of East Coast Railway Womens Welfare Organisation  were present on this occasion. Shri K. P. Yadav CME/Environment & Housekeeping Management  and Dy CME/Coaching & EnHM Shri Dinesh Kumar coordinated the programme.
RoM
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Ministry of Communications
“Government to leverage the reach and trust of Post Offices to offer doorstep banking to the unbanked, through India Post Payments Bank”: Manoj Sinha
Minister of State for Communications , Shri Manoj Sinha today said that the launch of India Post Payments Bank  will significantly augment the reach and impact of the banking sector in the country. Briefing the media here about the upcoming nation-wide launch of the IPPB by the Prime Minister on the 1st September, 2018, Shri Sinha said, the trusted Postman will now become a banker to millions of unbanked and under-banked Indians who have so far had no access to financial services. This launch will more than double the number of bank branches in the country – from the present 1.40 lakhs to more than 2.90 lakhs. Similarly, the number of rural branches in the country will increase from the current 49,000 to more than 1.75 lakhs.
The vision of IPPB is to build the most accessible, affordable and trusted bank for the common man, to spearhead the financial inclusion agenda of the Government. It will leverage the vast network of the Department of Posts, which covers every corner of the country with more than 300,000 Postmen and Grameen Dak Sewaks. This will enable IPPB to bridge the last-mile gap in banking services.
Shri Sinha said, on the day of the launch, IPPB will have 650 Branches and 3250 Access Points spread across the country. The bank will offer a range of products such as savings and current accounts, money transfer, direct benefit transfers, bill and utility payments, and enterprise and merchant payments. These products, and related services, will be offered across multiple channels , using the bank’s state-of-the-art technology platform. All the 1.55 lakh Post Offices in the country will be linked to the IPPB system by December 31, 2018.
IPPB has built a strong integrated model with the Department of Posts , under which Post Office Savings Bank  account holders will be able to avail additional services provided by IPPB, by linking their accounts. Commenting on this, Shri A.N. Nanda, Secretary, DoP said – “The IPPB account will provide DoP customers with a complete bouquet of banking services which they have never experienced before.”
The Minister informed that the launch itself is slated to be a mega event. While the Prime Minister will be the Chief Guest at the nation-wide launch at the Talkatora Stadium in New Delhi, simultaneous launch events will be held at all 650 branches and 3250 access points of IPPB across the country. Senior dignitaries of the Central and State Governments will grace these events with their presence.
“The upcoming launch of the IPPB will be another significant milestone in our Government’s endeavour to take the benefits of a rapidly developing India to the remotest corners of our country, ensuring that the benefits of the Government’s flagship programs such as Digital India flow to the last citizen standing in the queue of development, and our dream of financial inclusion becomes a reality for all”, concluded Shri Sinha.
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SNC
(Visitor Counter : 497
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
Family Planning for Males
The initiatives undertaken by the Government to increase male participation in Family Planning are:-
- Observation of ‘Vasectomy Fortnight’ in the month of November every year in all States of India to raise awareness on male participation and promotion of male sterilization.
- Training of service providers in No Scalpel Vasectomy  to enhance the pool of service providers.
- Condom boxes set up in facilities to enable clients to access condoms in privacy.
- The ‘Home Delivery of Contraceptive Scheme’ to deliver contraceptives including condoms to the beneficiaries.
- Substantially increased compensation for male sterilization under the Enhanced compensation scheme for sterilization.
- A 360 degree media campaign underlining the role of men in family planning to encourage men to adopt family planning methods.
Details of States having better male participation in Family Planning in terms of better uptake of male contraceptives as per NFHS 4 aregiven below:
Details of States having betterMale Participation in Family Planning
Source NFHS-4
|
|
S. No.
|
|
STATE|
|
Current Use of male family planning methods 

|
|
1
|
|
Chandigarh
|
|
28.6
|
|
2
|
|
Delhi
|
|
20.2
|
|
3
|
|
Punjab
|
|
19.5
|
|
4
|
|
Uttarakhand
|
|
16.8
|
|
5
|
|
Himachal Pradesh
|
|
15.1
|
|
6
|
|
Haryana
|
|
12.6
|
|
7
|
|
Jammu & Kashmir
|
|
11.7
|
|
8
|
|
Uttar Pradesh
|
|
10.9
|
|
9
|
|
Rajasthan
|
|
8.9
|
|
10
|
|
Sikkim
|
|
8.6
|
|
11
|
|
Maharashtra
|
|
7.5
|
|
12
|
|
Goa
|
|
7.1
|
|
13
|
|
West Bengal
|
|
6.0
|
|
|
|
|
|
The National average for Current Use ofmale family planning methods  is 5.9 %;Above 13 States have better male participation than National average 
In Mission ParivarVikas Districts , Government is conducting 4 Mission ParivarVikas campaigns in a year. These campaigns involve extensive mobilization activities including promotion of male participation and assured vasectomy services.
The Minister of State , SmtAnupriya Patel stated this in a written reply in the Lok Sabha here today.
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions
DoPPW issues notification for Central Government employees covered under the NPS
DoPPW has brought out the notification for regulating the service matters of Central Government employees covered under the National Pension System.
The New Defined Contribution based Pension Scheme was introduced vide Department of Economic Affairs Notification No. 5/7/2003-ECB & PR dated 22nd December, 2003.Thereafter the activities under the National Pension System viz. registration, contribution, investment, fund management, withdrawals, annuity, etc. are regulated by the PFRDA Act, 2013.
However, there were several service matters pertaining the NPS employees which were not covered by the PFRDA Act. Therefore, in order to streamline the implementation of NPS, DoPPW initiated the proposal for framing of separate service rules for NPS employees.
The present notification provides a detail guideline for processing various benefits /facility available to NPS employees such as compensation to be paid to the Government servant in case of delay in registration and credit of contributions to the NPS Account,Option for benefits under the CCS Rules or NPS Rules in the event of death or disability of Government servant during service,Benefits payable on retirement on superannuation, premature retirement, voluntary retirement, absorption in autonomous body or PSU, etc.
Earlier the benefits of invalid pension, family pension on death during service, disability pension and extraordinary family pension were extended to NPS covered Government employees at par with the employees appointed before 01.01.2004, vide DoPPW’s O.M. No. 38/41/06-P&PW dated 05.05.2009. Thereafter, the benefits of Retirement Gratuity and Death Gratuity have also been extended to all Central Government employees covered by National Pension System vide DoPPW’s order dated 26.08.2016 on the same terms and conditions as are applicable under CCS Rules.
Ministry of Science & Technology
Community service centre to make data from India’s first solar space mission accessible for analysis
A community service centre has been set up to bring all data on board India’s first dedicated solar space mission to a single web-based interface enabling the users to quickly look at the data and identify the interesting science cases.
Signing of the MoU between ISRO and ARIES
The service centre called Aditya-L1 Support Cell , a joint effort of Indian Space Research Organisation  and Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences  an autonomous institute of the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India will be used by the guest observers in analyzing science data and preparing science observing proposals.
AL1SC set up at the transit campus of ARIES at Haldwani, Uttarakhand, will jointly work with ISRO to maximize utilization of science data from Aditya-L1 and facilitate India’s first dedicated solar space mission- Aditya-L1.
The centre will act as conduit between the users  and payload teams of Aditya-L1 and solar astronomy research community at large. It is slated to develop specific tools to assist guest observers/researchers to prepare observing proposals for Aditya-L1 observations and will assist ISRO with the design and development of the required analysis software for handling scientific data.
The centre will also provide the co-aligned data from other observatories around the world that can complement the data obtained from Aditya-L1 allowing users to accomplish the science goals beyond the capabilities of the Aditya-L1.
Combining data from other observatories will be helpful in building a solar features event knowledgebase which will be the compendium of different solar features seen on the surface of the Sun and in the heliosphere. This knowledge base will be immensely useful for the scientific community in connecting the features in heliosphere to the surface of the Sun.
In addition to this AL1SC will also build capacity by establishing periodic training of the national user community on data analysis and proposal preparation. Short workshops of 2-3 days durations at different locations in India will be held focusing on universities who do not have access for downloading and analyzing the Aditya-L1 data. Further, AL1SC has also planned to schedule frequent E-workshops and tutorials using online platforms.
The centre will expand reach of Aditya-L1 not only within India, but also increase the visibility of the mission at the international level. It will allow every interested individual to be able to perform scientific analysis of the data.
Ministry of Micro,Small & Medium Enterprises
Gadkari says, Finance Minister's economic package for MSME sector will energise the indigenous industry
Union Minister for MSMEs and Road Transport & Highways Shri Nitin Gadkari has welcomed the relief package for MSME sector announced by the Finance Minister today. In a video message from Nagpur, he said, this package will energize the local indigenous industry with new life.
Shri Gadkari said, the turnover of the village industry has been around Rs 88 thousand crore, which we aspire to take forward to Rs 5 lakh crore in next two years. He said, the stimulus package announced today, will help achieve this target in a big way. The Khadi sector will play a big role in this as it is entering into exports also.
The Minister was very upbeat over the change of definition of the MSME sector. Raising of investment limit in this sector to Rs 100 crore will give great boost to the industry, which will now get easy finance from banks. The sector was demanding this revision for long, he said. The Fund of Funds, which has a corpus of Rs 10 thousand crore, will benefit over 25 lakh MSMEs under stress. Similarly, easing of global tendering norm is a remarkable step, he said. Shri Gadkari expressed hope that now new orders will be received from Defence and Police for uniforms, etc.
He said, economic support to this sector which gives employment to over 11 crore people and contributes by nearly 29 per cent of GDP, can never be forgotten by the stake holders of this sector. He expressed confidence that the MSME, village and cottage industry sector will grow to new heights with the support of this package.
Special Service and Features
Mr. V C Asokan takes over as Executive Director & State Head – IndianOil 
Mr. V C Asokan has taken over as the new Executive Director & State Head of Indian Oil for Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. He takes over from Mr. P Jayadevan, who had moved with a new assignment as LPG Head in Marketing Head Office, Mumbai. Besides being the State Head for Indian Oil, Mr. V C Asokan would also function as the State Level Coordinator  for the Oil Industry in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
Mr. V C Asokan has over three decades of extensive experience in Indian Oil, primarily in Retail Sales, Operations and International Marketing. Hailing from Thanjavur District of Tamil Nadu, he holds the Masters in Business Management from Regional Engineering College, Tiruchirappalli.
Mr V C Asokan has consummated International Fuel Marketing Experience during his tenure as Vice President  in Lanka IOC PLC, a subsidiary company of IndianOil in Srilanka. Mr. Asokan also carries himself with the pan India Marketing Experience of having worked in Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat contributing and heading various leadership and management positions.
Prior to this posting, Mr. V C Asokan was heading the Kerala State Office as Executive Director & State Head, where he successfully provided strategic orientation to several path breaking project initiatives. He has travelled extensively and has interacted with key global stakeholders in Oil and Gas.
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Ministry of Finance
Central Bank Digital Currency  pilot launched by RBI in retail segment has components based on blockchain technology
The Reserve Bank of India  has issued a concept note on Central Bank Digital Currency  on October 7, 2022. The Note is accessible at RBI’s website . This was stated by Union Minister of State for Finance Shri Pankaj Chaudhary in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.
The Minister state that the CBDC pilot launched by the RBI in retail segment has components based on blockchain technology.
Giving more information on the CBDC, the Minister stated that the RBI has launched pilots of CBDC in both Wholesale and Retail segments. The pilot in wholesale segment, known as the Digital Rupee -Wholesale , was launched on November 1, 2022, with use case being limited to the settlement of secondary market transactions in government securities. Use of , is expected to make the inter-bank market more efficient. Settlement in central bank money would reduce transaction costs by pre-empting the need for settlement guarantee infrastructure or for collateral to mitigate settlement risk. The pilot in retail segment, known as digital Rupee-Retail , was launched on December 01, 2022, within a closed user group  comprising participating customers and merchants.
The Minister further stated that the RBI has identified eight banks for phase-wise participation in the retail pilot project. The first phase includes four banks, namely the State Bank of India, the ICICI Bank, the Yes Bank and the IDFC First Bank. Subsequently, another four banks, viz., the Bank of Baroda, the Union Bank of India, the HDFC Bank and the Kotak Mahindra Bank will participate in the retail pilot.
The Minister stated in response to another question that RBI has already rolled out a pilot in the retail version of the CBDC , on December 01, 2022. The e₹-R is in the form of a digital token that represents legal tender. It is being issued in the same denominations as the paper currency and coins. It is being distributed through financial intermediaries, i.e., the banks. Users will be able to transact with e₹- R through a digital wallet offered by the participating banks. Transactions can be both Person to Person  and Person to Merchant . The e₹-R offers features of physical cash like trust, safety and settlement finality. Like cash, the CBDC will not earn any interest and can be converted to other forms of money, like deposits with banks.
On the other steps being taken by RBI for full operationalisation of CBDC include expanding the scope of the pilots gradually to include more banks, users and locations based on feedback received during the pilots, the Minister stated
Ministry of Law and Justice
Press Note
In exercise of the power conferred by Article 223 of the Constitution of India, the President, is pleased to appoint the Shri Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava, seniormost Judge of the Rajasthan High Court to perform the duties of the office of Chief Justice of that High Court, with effect from 07.03.2022, vide notifications dated 04.03.2022.
Department of Justice , Ministry of Law & Justice.
Ministry of Finance
Exchange Rates Notification No.72/2019
In exercise of the powers conferred by section 14 of the Customs Act, 1962 , and in supersession of the notification of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs No.66/2019-CUSTOMS , dated 19th September, 2019 except as respects things done or omitted to be done before such supersession, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs hereby determines that the rate of exchange of conversion of each of the foreign currencies specified in column  of each of Schedule I and Schedule II annexed hereto, into Indian currency or vice versa, shall, with effect from 4th October, 2019, be the rate mentioned against it in the corresponding entry in column  thereof, for the purpose of the said section, relating to imported and export goods.
SCHEDULE-I
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Sl.No.
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Foreign Currency
|
|
Rate of exchange of one unit of foreign currency equivalent to Indian rupees
|
|

|
|

|
|

|
|
|
|
|
|

|
|

|
|
|
|
|
|

|
|

|
|
1.
|
|
Australian Dollar
|
|
49.00
|
|
46.85
|
|
2.
|
|
Bahraini Dinar
|
|
195.25
|
|
183.20
|
|
3.
|
|
Canadian Dollar
|
|
54.45
|
|
52.55
|
|
4.
|
|
Chinese Yuan
|
|
10.15
|
|
9.80
|
|
5.
|
|
Danish Kroner
|
|
10.65
|
|
10.25
|
|
6.
|
|
EURO
|
|
79.55
|
|
76.65
|
|
7.
|
|
Hong Kong Dollar
|
|
9.25
|
|
8.90
|
|
8.
|
|
Kuwaiti Dinar
|
|
242.40
|
|
227.35
|
|
9.
|
|
New Zealand Dollar
|
|
45.90
|
|
43.80
|
|
10.
|
|
Norwegian Kroner
|
|
7.95
|
|
7.65
|
|
11.
|
|
Pound Sterling
|
|
89.30
|
|
86.15
|
|
12.
|
|
Qatari Riyal
|
|
20.20
|
|
18.95
|
|
13.
|
|
Saudi Arabian Riyal
|
|
19.65
|
|
18.40
|
|
14.
|
|
Singapore Dollar
|
|
52.45
|
|
50.65
|
|
15.
|
|
South African Rand
|
|
4.80
|
|
4.50
|
|
16.
|
|
Swedish Kroner
|
|
7.35
|
|
7.10
|
|
17.
|
|
Swiss Franc
|
|
72.85
|
|
70.05
|
|
18.
|
|
Turkish Lira
|
|
12.90
|
|
12.10
|
|
19.
|
|
UAE Dirham
|
|
20.05
|
|
18.80
|
|
20.
|
|
US Dollar
|
|
72.15
|
|
70.45
SCHEDULE-II
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Sl.No.
|
|
Foreign Currency
|
|
Rate of exchange of 100 units of foreign currency equivalent to Indian rupees
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|

|
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|
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|

|
|

|
|
|
|
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|

|
|

|
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1.
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|
Japanese Yen
|
|
67.80
|
|
65.25
|
|
2.
|
|
Korean Won
|
|
6.10
|
|
5.75
[F.No. 468/01/2019-Cus.V]
RM/KMN
(Visitor Counter : 573
Ministry of Steel
Union Steel Minister Shri Ram Chandra Prasad Singh lays Foundation Stone for new 5 MTPA Project at JSW Steel Vijayanagar Works in Karnataka
Union Steel Minister, Shri Ram Chandra Prasad Singh, today, laid the foundation stone for the new 5 MTPA project at JSW Steel Vijayanagar Works integrated steel facility in Ballari, Karnataka. This brown-field expansion project is being undertaken through JSW Vijayanagar Metallics Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of JSW Steel Ltd. The Company has earmarked a capex investment of Rs 15,000 crore for this expansion and is expected to be completed by FY24. The Foundation Stone laying ceremony was conducted in the presence of JSW Steel Chairman Shri Sajjan Jindal along with other government and company officials.
The Environmental Clearance  for the project has already been received from the Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change, Government of India and preliminary clearance from the ‘Single Window High-Level Clearance Committee’ , Government of Karnataka has also been secured. As part of the 18 MTPA Roadmap for its Vijayanagar Works Steel Facility, JSW Steel aims to achieve an additional 1 MTPA expansion through upgradation of the current facility to achieve 13 MTPA capacity within the next 12 months.
Speaking on the occasion, Union Steel Minister Shri Ram Chandra Prasad Singh lauded JSW Steel’s contribution to build a stronger India. Dwelling on the growing potential of the steel sector, Steel Minister conveyed that the expansion projects would also help in augmenting the availability of world-class steel and the progressive plans of the Ministry of Steel.